Request by Gio3153
[FP's jealous, Alice takes it too far]
+ my different take on season 2
FP follows Alice out of the bar. He looks around and when he sees that they're all alone, he presses her up against the wall and kisses her.
"I can taste the tequila on your lips," He chuckles. "That's the closest I can get to a drink these days."
"How does it feel to be a free man again?" Alice teases with a cute smile. "It was nice of the Serpents to throw you a party."
"Yeah," FP has a lovesick smile plastered all over his face. "What about you? Isn't it nice saying hello to a bunch of old friends?"
"Not that there's many. Most of them don't forgive me for leaving."
"Hey, it's in the past. We would be lying if most of us didn't try to make it out of this side of the train tracks. Me included."
"How long do you think they're going to be mad at you for retiring?" Alice asks as she plays with the stubble on his chin.
FP knits his eyebrows. "What?"
Now Alice is confused. "Aren't you retiring?"
"No," FP shakes his head. "Where did you hear that from?"
"You're turning your life around. The first step was getting sober. Don't you think it's time to step down and focus on just your well-being?"
"I'm not leaving the Serpents, Al."
"You didn't want to be one in the first place, don't you remember?"
"They stood by me and took care of Jug while I was in prison."
"You know damn well that Fred took care of your son."
FP sighs. "I know he did. And I appreciate everything he did while I was figuring things out."
"And where were the Serpents when you needed them back then? You think turning a blind eye to everything your dad did to you was in your best interest."
FP scoffs. "You were a Serpent then, isn't that what you did?"
Alice glares at him. "I was there for you. Fred and I both were."
FP pinches the arch of his nose and exhales. "You're right. You're right. I'm sorry." He got carried away. "But regardless of the past, they're all I have now."
"Oh, really?"
"That's not what I meant." FP says. "Actually, no, maybe. Al, they're the only family I have left. I'm still trying to win back Jughead's trust. My own son. And I haven't seen my daughter in a long time."
"Where does that leave me?" Alice's eyes shimmer.
"Alice..."
"Where does that leave me?" She repeats herself.
"You know you're important to me. Don't turn this around on me."
Alice rolls her eyes at FP. "You are unbelievable."
"I'm unbelievable?" FP scoffs. "I'm unbelievable? You're the one criticizing me about not taking us seriously when you still won't leave Hal!"
"That's so rich coming from you."
"I'm the only one trying to make this work. I left my unhappy marriage. Why won't you?"
"No, you didn't. Gladys left you!" She watches his glare turn into hurt. She instantly regrets what she said, but she keeps going. "You keep asking me to leave him like it's that easy."
"What is it that you want from me, Al? Do you want me to leave everything that makes me me behind and come crawling to you on the northside? I didn't have what it takes back then. What makes you think it's going to be any easy for me now?"
"All I'm asking is for you to put yourself in my shoes, I've got a lot to lose if I don't plan this out."
"And I didn't?" FP takes a step back.
"That's not what I said."
"I'm just going to ask you. Do you see yourself loving me the way I love you?"
"You love me?" Alice has never heard him say that to her.
"Of course I do," FP frowns. "The question is: do you? I'm trying my all here and it sounds to me like you only will if I change to be more like you."
"I don't want you to change. I want you to be safe." She swipes a stray tear away. "You know what happened to Fred."
"I'm not putting up a facade for others. I am who I am. If that's not enough for you..." FP pauses. "...then I don't know what we're doing here."
"If you want to act like a child, then fine." Alice glares at him. "Classic FP Jones. You just don't change, do you? Do what you're best at and just leave me alone. Worked for us once, right?"
+
Fred nudges FP, having caught him staring at Alice and Hal. FP is pulled away from his thoughts. The interaction between the two friends is nothing more than an eyebrow raise until Fred decides to get a verbal answer out of him.
"How long have you been sleeping together?" Fred bluntly asks him.
"What?"
"I'm not blind. You've been staring at her all night."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"If I can admit I still have unresolved feelings for Hermione, you should be able to admit the same about Alice."
FP huffs. "Ever since I was released."
"We're fools, aren't we?" Fred says. "Falling in love again when we could have made it work the first time around."
"I asked her to leave him." FP says, his eyes still gazing over at the couple.
Fred nearly chokes on his drink. "What?"
"I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking. She just came to me angry and it slipped out of my mouth."
"Something like that doesn't just roll off the tip of the tongue."
"You don't think I know that?"
"Well, what are we to do? They're married."
"We're not."
Fred gives him a look. "It's not that simple. I kissed Hermione and I nearly saw the light for that."
"Is it crazy that I don't care about the risk?"
"I think you're a lunatic but I wouldn't say I'm surprised." Fred shrugs. "All I'd say is be careful. I'm no saint, so I can't tell you not to have your affair. But you have Jughead to look after. Don't let him lose his only father."
"She has two daughters," FP shakes his head. The thought of their children has crossed his mind, but wanting her so badly turned him blind to the consequences. "Shit."
"A serious conversation is needed if this is something you both want with each other."
"She won't even look at me after what I asked of her. I drove her into taking him back." FP gazes over at the couple again. "Wasting her time on me would be more stupid."
"You wouldn't be this hurt if you didn't love her."
FP ignores what he says; he's focused on Alice looking back at him, staring straight into his eyes. He watches as she grabs the back of Hal's neck and pulls him in for a long kiss. Fred turns to look at what FP is fixated on.
FP in a calm huff makes his way out the door. Fred thinks about going after him but finds it's better to give him time alone before having a conversation.
Fred turns to look back at Alice and Hal. Hal whispers something into her ear. Alice giggles before she glances back over to where FP was, only to find Fred standing alone. They lock eyes briefly before Alice focuses back on Hal.
+
Jughead knocks on the bedroom door. FP doesn't move. Jughead pokes in to check on him. "Dad?"
"Hmm."
"I'm heading over to Betty's for breakfast. They invited both of us actually."
FP rolls his eyes under the sheets. "Pass."
"Are you sure?"
"Do you remember the last time I got invited over?" FP points out. "I'd rather them not shove their perfect little life in my face."
Jughead knows he can't force him to go. "There's no convincing you?"
"I don't want anything to do with those two."
"I thought you were civil now," Jughead frowns.
"Believe me, I'm doing my part."
"Well, you don't have to come to breakfast, but it would be nice if you put this feud aside next time. With mom and JB gone, it would at least be nice to have my girlfriend's family in our lives. It's already kinda interesting with her sister and brother back."
"Brother?" This catches FP's attention.
"Yeah, the long lost brother that was given up for adoption years ago." Jughead shrugs. "Turns out that life or death fight you didn't overhear came to light." Betty caught him up on what happened between her parents in high school.
FP sits up with a stoic look on his face. He speaks, more so to himself, "Must explain why she left for so long."
"What?" Jughead questions.
"Look, I'll be honest, it's not a good idea I go."
"Fine," Jughead doesn't push it. "I'll be back later. Bye, dad."
"I have a shift in the afternoon. How about I bring us home dinner?"
"Sounds good to me." Jughead shows himself out the trailer.
+
The Coopers sit around the table waiting for their guests. It isn't until Betty reads her text from Jughead that they expect to only greet the boy.
"I still don't understand what you see in that boy," Alice says. "I hope he hasn't defiled you."
"Mom," Betty turns red. "Please, be nice. He's a nice boy. We already discussed this. I really like him."
"There's nothing good about those Joneses," Hal agrees with Alice.
"You know what his dad did to Jason," Polly glares at Betty. "It's not fair that you're associating with them."
"That has nothing to do with Jughead," Betty defends her boyfriend. "If anything you know that Mr. Jones only did what he did to protect Jughead."
"You're defending what he did?" Polly huffs.
"I'm not defending anything. I'm just saying don't blame my boyfriend for something his dad had to do." Betty crosses her arms. "You want to point out technicalities? Your kids' father is our own cousin!"
"Hey, we didn't know!"
Charles looks around the table. "This is what breakfast is like in this family?"
Alice places a hand over his. "There's a lot to get used to, sweetheart."
A knock on the door disrupts the arguing. "That's Jug," Betty gets up to answer the door. "For the love of god, please, be nice."
Jughead smiles at Betty. "Hey."
"Juggie, come in! Breakfast is ready." Betty escorts him to his seat next to her.
"Good morning," He awkwardly greets the family. He's still not used to seeing them all at once. "Sorry, my dad couldn't make it. He's not feeling well."
"I bet he's hungover," Hal mutters.
Alice catches herself glaring at him for that. Then, the thought of that genuinely concerns her. She's aware of his journey towards staying sober.
Jughead takes a seat across from Polly. Though he avoids looking at her, he can feel her staring at him. He can also feel Hal's eyes on him. Hal is to his right, at one end of the table; Alice takes the opposite end.
Betty shoots subtle looks at her sister and father. She organized for the Joneses to come over so they could get used to each other. It's a step towards learning to be civil.
"I hear you transferred back to Riverdale High from Southside High," Alice makes small talk. She found it odd he transferred to a less funded school on the southside when she and his father both were known to attend Riverdale High.
"Yeah, it came with the whole foster parents deal. But now that my dad's back, everything is back to normal."
"Wasn't your school shut down?" Polly quirks up.
"Polly," Betty gives her a knowingly look.
"What? Everyone knows about that drug dealing teacher. The Black Hood got to him."
"And that's why we don't sin," Hal says.
"Can someone pass the pancakes?" Betty asks, hoping they would drop it.
Charles scoops scramble eggs onto his plate. He bites down on bacon as he still casually looks around the table. He's used to chaos, but not this kind.
It's silent for a while, something everyone seems to appreciate. Then, it's Alice who breaks the silence to ask Jughead a question. "Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, is it alright if I ask you something?"
Both look at him as if giving him permission to speak. He nervously clears his throat. "Why do you hate my father?"
Charles hides a curious smile behind his glass of orange juice. Things got interesting. Polly bites back all she wants to say for Betty's sake. Betty covers her ears, expecting the worst.
"What do you mean?" Alice asks.
"Why do you really hate my father?" Jughead asks again. "With all due respect, you were once a Southside Serpent. You can't really hate him for being one too. Can you?"
"I wouldn't say we hate him."
"I would. He's not a good man," Hal shrugs.
"Dad," Betty glares at him.
"He's made some mistakes, yeah, but he's not a bad man." Jughead defends his father. "He singlehandedly took the Bulldogs to the championships. I think he was well respected by your football team and peers."
"That was before all the lies started coming out. He lied about being a northsider. He traded his place on the Bulldogs to be a Serpent." Hal looks over at his wife. "Wouldn't you say so yourself? What was it you said? That he would wind up just like his old man, drinking himself to death."
"Stop it," Alice warns him.
"So you hate him simply because he's from the southside? Do you hate me?" Jughead dares to ask. He looks sadly at Betty. He's aware that he's not their favorite person, but he has never thought to what extent.
"Your thoughts, hon? It takes one to know one." Hal says. "Tell me, Jughead, is he just like your grandfather? Does he rough you up?"
"What?" Jughead's face softens.
"Enough, Hal." Alice firmly says. "Leave him alone. He has nothing to do with it."
"But he does," Hal glances at Charles. The kids don't pick up on it as they focused their attention on the deathly glares the married couple share.
Alice looks at him with a mix of confusion and anger. "I'm sorry, Betty, but maybe Jughead should go. Your father has ruined breakfast for all of us."
"I asked for a friendly breakfast and you couldn't give me that?" Betty jumps up and runs upstairs to her room, tears in her eyes.
Jughead wants to go after her but he feels uncomfortable left with the rest of her family. "I should get going," He stands up. "I'll call Betty later to check on how she's doing." He scurries to the door.
"Are you happy now?" Alice spits at Hal.
Hal scoffs. "I've had my suspicions for years. And I'm starting to think I was right." He eyes Charles.
Charles furrows his eyebrows. He's picked up on Hal not liking him when he first agreed to come stay with the family. He figured it was because he was the unwanted pregnancy to him; his mother has made it very clear that she wanted to keep him from the start. Now he's starting to wonder if there's something else.
Polly picks up on what her father is implying. She audibly gasps. She looks Charles up and down then stares at her mother. "Did you sleep with FP Jones?"
"Are you sleeping with him?" Hal directly asks Alice.
"I don't know w-"
Hal slams his fist on the table. "Don't bullshit me, Alice. Do you think I'm blind? I've seen the way you look at him. And he's no saint either."
"Kids, why don't you go check on the twins?" Alice does not want to have this conversation in front of them.
"No, stay. I want Polly to hear how much of a slut her mother really is."
Polly's eyes widen. "I think I hear my babies." Polly excuses herself but Charles stays.
"You," Hal looks at Charles. "You're the reason your mother became such a whore. I did everything to perfect her and how does she repay me? Pawning you off as mine."
Charles looks at Alice with sad eyes. He doesn't have anything to say. Yet, he feels so guilty on behalf of his mother.
"Leave him out of this," Alice will not stand for the way he is treating her son.
"This whole thing is his fault. He ties you back to that lowlife southside scum."
"If anything, he's the real man, not you!" This irks Hal to hear. Alice carries on. "Yes, Charles is his son. He got lucky he doesn't have a narcissist for a father. All you ever cared about was the way you looked to the public eye. You never loved me."
"I worshipped you for years!"
Alice laughs. "I haven't been able to be myself for the past twenty five years! And I'll admit, sleeping with FP pulls me out of this nightmare of a marriage. That's right. He touches me in every way you couldn't the past two decades." She shakes her head. "I should have listened to him and left you."
"Then why didn't you?" Hal challenges. "Are you afraid of losing everything you have? Everything I gave you? The girls? He could never give you this life."
"No, he would have given me a happier one. I wouldn't have to worry about the way you talk to me or the way you won't even touch me anymore."
"You would worry about how you would have kept this thing alive," Hal spits at Charles. "How you would be on the streets like all those southside mothers with bastard babies. Let alone a criminal for a baby daddy."
"Don't talk to my mother that way!" Charles fumes.
Polly shows herself into Betty's room after eavesdropping from the top of the stairs.
"Go away," Betty is not in the mood to talk.
"You don't hear that?" Polly closes the door behind her. "Big stuff is happening between mom and dad. Since you give me such a hard time about my love life, maybe you should know that you and your boyfriend share a brother."
"What?" Betty doesn't understand.
"Charles. He isn't dad's son. He's FP Jones's son."
Betty scrunches her face. "What!"
"And she's still seeing him."
Betty's eyes nearly bulge out. "Oh my god."
The ruckus going on downstairs distracts her from thinking about it any further. She and Polly both go down to check on the situation now that it sounded more serious.
"Get out!" They hear Alice screams at their father.
They catch a glimpse of him before he slams the door shut behind himself.
"Mom?" Betty comes down the stairs. Alice holds her cheek; it still stings from the slap she received. "Did he?" She watches the blood drip out of Charles's nose.
Alice goes into the kitchen to grab Charles a hand towel to clean up with. He accepts it and tilts his head back. Alice takes a seat on one of the stools just before she feels her body give out. She weeps into her hands as she pities herself in shame.
Charles takes a seat next to her. And without saying anything, he comforts her with his presence.
+
FP looks up from the newspaper when the door flies open. Jughead comes in and throws himself face first onto the couch.
"You're back so soon?"
"It was a disaster," Jughead's voice is mumbled by the cushions.
FP frowns. "What happened?"
"What didn't?"
"Was it because I didn't go? I'm sorry."
"No, you were right. If you had gone, Mr. Cooper might have just bombarded you with insults."
"What did he say to you?" FP doesn't like the idea of that man belittling his son.
Jughead repositions himself. "What did grandpa do to you?"
This question catches FP off guard. "Huh?"
"Did he hurt you?" Jughead's parents never really spoke about his paternal grandparents. They only ever visited his mother's parents. That's who his sister and mother currently are staying with.
FP never spoke about him because it hurt to retell. He preferred his children not to know, but now that Jughead knew, there's no denying it anymore. "He was a mean, mean drunk. Let's just leave it at that."
"How badly did he hurt you?"
FP sighs. "I'd rather not get into it."
"That bad?" Jughead can only imagine. "I didn't know..."
"It was better that you didn't. Saves you the sob story." FP chuckles to himself.
"No, he shouldn't have laid a hand on you. You never hurt us."
"I hurt all of you. I became a pathetic drunk like him. I'm no better than he was."
"You're wrong. You're sober now. That's not easy to do. You turned things around for us."
"I'm only barely starting to make things right with you. I've failed with all the others."
"These things take time. I'm sure mom will come back around. I've told her all about how well you're doing. Maybe I can work her around the idea of coming down for a visit soon."
FP doesn't say anything. He just sits there in his seat.
Jughead's phone dings in his pocket. He pulls it out and sees that he has a text message from Betty. Instinctively, he swipes it open to read.
FP watches his son's face twist in confusion. "What is it?"
"You got my girlfriend's mother pregnant?"
FP's heart stops. "What?"
"You're having an affair!" Jughead couldn't believe it. "Oh my god! Betty's mom?"
"Woah, I know it sounds bad, but let me explain."
"Did you know Charles is your son? Oh god!" Jughead realizes what that means. "I share a brother with my girlfriend!"
"What do you mean he's my son?" FP backtracks.
"Wait, you didn't know?" Jughead notes the look on his face. His father didn't know. "You knew she was pregnant...but you really didn't know he was yours."
FP breaks out of his trance and gets up.
"Where are you going?"
"I need some answers." FP bolts out the door and into his truck.
+
"Alice?" Charles peeks out the window.
"Is he back?" Alice stiffens.
"No. There's a man...just standing out there, staring at the house." Charles makes his way to the door.
"Wait," Alice stops him. "I think I know who it is."
Charles looks back at her. "Is that?" He doesn't need to finish that question. She nods. "How do you know? You haven't even checked?"
"Who else would it be?" Alice takes his place at the door. She creaks it open and peeks out. She looks at FP. He doesn't move in fear of scaring her back in.
Charles stands behind her and looks over her head. FP's eyes travel up. He sees the young man for the first time. He looks just like her. It overwhelms him more than he expected.
FP approaches the door cautiously. Alice opens it further and steps out. They stand face to face.
"Is this him?"
Alice's shoulders shake. She cries into his chest; he embraces her. They soak in the silence before FP can't take it anymore.
"You never told me. Did I not deserve to know we have a son?" FP croaks out.
"Of course you did. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"How long has he been around? Had you been having sex with me knowing while keeping him from me?"
"He hasn't been home too long. I was only looking for him when we were sleeping together."
"You didn't want me to help you find him? Al, he's my son too. I'd like to think I have a right to be involved."
"I was scared," She weeps. "We were doing so well and I was scared this would scare you away."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"That's not good enough."
"FP-"
"I was scared to hurt you just like this. I don't like being the reason you feel this way."
"It wouldn't hurt if I knew in the first place. Did a part of you wish he was his instead? Is that why you gave him up?"
"No, you're the only one I would want to be his father."
"Then why wasn't I? I had to hear from my own son that he has a brother."
"I was young and stupid, FP! I didn't know what I was doing." She cries harder. "I thought raising him with Hal would be my only practical option. But then my choices became between agreeing to the appointment he made me or giving him up to another family. I chose to protect him."
FP's face softens. "He was going to make you abort?"
She sadly nods. "I couldn't do it. I wanted my baby."
"Oh, Alice."
"Why do we keep doing this? Why do we keep hurting each other?"
"It's all we know."